Implantable medical devices, such as electrical stimulators or therapeutic agent delivery devices, have been proposed for use in different therapeutic applications, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), spinal cord stimulation (SCS), pelvic stimulation, gastric stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, functional electrical stimulation or delivery of pharmaceutical agents, insulin, pain relieving agents or anti-inflammatory agents to a target tissue site within a patient. In some therapy systems, an implantable electrical stimulator delivers electrical therapy to a target tissue site within a patient with the aid of one or more electrodes, which may be deployed by medical leads carrying elongated conductors, or on a housing of the electrical stimulator, or both.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used as a medical imaging technique used in radiology to investigate the anatomy and function of neurostructures such as the brain or the spinal cord or the like. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to generate images of the patient's body.
However, patients with implantable medical devices such as neurostimulation and/or neurorecording devices might face some limitations during MRI, since the magnetic fields of the MRI scanner or the RF signals of the MRI might provide electromagnetic interferences (EMI) that may impact the function of the implantable medical device and/or lead to heating.